Twitter owner Elon Musk is recommending parents watch a conservative documentary about gender issues.
On Friday morning, the billionaire shared a tweet from the conservative outlet, The Daily Wire, which included its documentary “What is a Woman?”
“Every parent should watch this,” Musk wrote.
He added, “Consenting adults should do whatever makes them happy, provided it does not harm others, but a child is not capable of consent, which is why we have laws protecting minors.”
Consenting adults should do whatever makes them happy, provided it does not harm others, but a child is not capable of consent, which is why we have laws protecting minors.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 2, 2023
Musk’s tweet comes after a confusing day for The Daily Wire and its planned stream of the documentary.
On Thursday, the publisher’s co-founder, Jeremy Boreing, unleashed a tweet thread in which he said Twitter initially agreed to premiere the documentary, but then canceled the deal and threatened to limit its visibility.
Twitter said the documentary violated its harassment policy due to instances of “misgendering” in the film.
Twitter canceled a deal with @realdailywire to premiere What is a Woman? for free on the platform because of two instances of “misgendering.”
— Jeremy Boreing (@JeremyDBoreing) June 1, 2023
I’m not kidding.
Here's what happened:🧵1/16
Still, Boreing said the company planned to stream the documentary on the platform and questioned whether the company would limit its reach.
Hours later, Musk responded to Boreing and appeared to give a green light for the documentary as he said it was a “mistake” to cancel the deal. He added, “It is definitely allowed.”
This was a mistake by many people at Twitter. It is definitely allowed.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 1, 2023
Whether or not you agree with using someone’s preferred pronouns, not doing so is at most rude and certainly breaks no laws.
I should note that I do personally use someone’s preferred pronouns, just as I…
Yet when the time came for the stream, Twitter did limit the reach of the documentary and prevented users from re-tweeting it.
Twitter is now visibility limiting "What Is A Woman?" as premiering on Daily Wire's Twitter page. They did it within seconds of its premiere. It cannot be RTed. Nothing has been fixed. pic.twitter.com/3cP8JxXoBM
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) June 2, 2023
Amid criticism of the limit on the documentary, Musk wrote, “We’re updating the system tomorrow so that those who follow [The Daily Wire] will see this in their feed, but it won’t be recommended to non-followers (nor will any advertising be associated with it).”
We’re updating the system tomorrow so that those who follow @realDailyWire will see this in their feed, but it won’t be recommended to non-followers (nor will any advertising be associated with it)
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 2, 2023
However, conservative commentator Matt Walsh, who was behind the documentary, responded, “Elon, the film is being actively suppressed by people at Twitter right now as we speak. Why? And why would it take until tomorrow to take the hate speech tag off? And what does it mean that ‘advertisers won’t be associated with it’? Also, will it be shareable?”
By Friday morning, the documentary was able to be shared on Twitter.